In 1909, H.G Wells predicted that aerial warfare would nullify the protection provided by geographical distance to the front line.His prediction has been borne out by the cheap, ready-to-use drones of contemporary conflicts in Europe and the Middle East, serving a lesson for technological foresight.

Grand historical narratives promise a future we can see coming. That is both their attraction and their defect

In an era mediated through code, ‘trend’ has become an earworm of digital culture, lumped in with virality and consumerism. Is there a way out of the feedback loop, in which ‘trending’ is confused with tangible change, and towards reclaiming the analytic value of the term?

The history of ideas is a history of error. Prominent scientists once believed people lived on the surface of suns — a view we now find absurd. But folly comes in many forms, and its history may be less a catalogue of embarrassments than an unlikely guide to how far we have yet to go.

The 20th century French philosopher Gilbert Simondon believed that humankind harbours a primitive and xenophobic attitude to the technologies it creates. Today, we are surrounded by conversations about acceleration and automation, with the philosopher’s thought offering a uniquely provocative take on alienation in the future.

On the long history and possible future of Europe’s uneasy relationship to American automation.